The invention relates to window coverings and particularly to a window covering having a cellular structure with strips or slats connected between two parallel faces of material through which light may pass.
Venetian blinds are well-known window coverings. They have a series of horizontal slats hung from ladders which extend between a top rail and a bottomrail. The slats can be rotated between an open, see through position and a closed position. Additionally, the blinds can be raised and lowered. Venetian blinds contain aluminum, plastic or wood slats and are available in a wide range of colors.
Fabric window coverings and draperies are often preferred by consumers over venetian blinds because they have a softer, warmer appearance. However, draperies do not have the ability to control the amount of light transmitted through the window covering in a manner similar to louvered blinds like the traditional venetian blind.
Several attempts have been made to provide a fabric window covering with the ability to control the amount of light entering the room. Shapiro in U.S. Pat. No. 3,851,699 discloses a window draw drape having spaced apart light impeding and light transmitting vertical sections. The light impeding sections can be rotated to cover all or portions of the light admitting sections. The light impeding sections are vertical slats attached to the drapery or tightly woven fabric. The light admitting sections are open mesh. This product is difficult to operate because the light impeding sections tend not to align with the light admitting portions when those sections are rotated.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,313,999 to Colson et al. there is a window covering having first and second parallel sheer fabric sides and a plurality of light impeding or somewhat light impeding vanes extending between the sheer fabric sides. The vanes are angularly controllable by relative movement of the sheer fabric sides. Like the combination of a sheer fabric and a light impeding fabric this system allows the user to have a fully open window, a sheer covered window allowing light transmission with day time privacy, and a more opaque covering providing night time privacy or room darkening. In addition, it has intermediate light control of a louvered product like venetian blinds. The Colson window covering system is difficult to manufacture and to fabricate, has a limited range of fabrics it can use, and has a very flat appearance when in the light impeding mode. Another problem with this window covering is that a moire appearance often occurs on the front face of the window covering as a result of an alignment between the weave pattern of the front sheet and the weave pattern of the rear sheet. When this window covering is attached to a roller, the material tends to crumple or wrinkle when rolled up. The material is also hard to cut and the cut edges are difficult to seal because of the sheer fabrics that must be used.
Another light control window covering system is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,384,519 to Froget. The window covering disclosed there consists of two cloth layers spaced apart by movable parallel blades having each of their marginal edges heat welded to one of the movable cloth layers. Froget""s welding uses the material present which is very thin in order to be see-through, flexible, and store well. It is difficult to precisely apply heat and pressure to sufficiently bond these layers without damaging them by melting through the layer or forming warp spots. With this window covering relative movement of the two cloth layers in a direction perpendicular to the blades changes the angle of the blade and thus controls the amount of light emitted through the article. Because the blades must be heat welded to the cloth layers, only thermoplastic materials can be used. Also, heat welding necessarily requires a melting of some of the fibers of the material bonded, thus providing an uneven outer appearance along the heat welds and producing unwanted crimps or creases of the material which can result in fatigue failure. Furthermore, heat welding is a relatively slow process and the resulting weld is limited in strength. The window covering material in the Colson and Froget blinds is tilted and stored on a roller wrapping successively around itself. When the layer is displayed over the window the front layer is the same length as the back layer. When the layers are stored around the roller each layer travels a progressively larger or longer path, the difference depending on the thickness of each fabric. Since all the layers are bonded together the wrapping can cause wrinkling on the layers traveling on the inside or shorter paths. Having very uniformly thin layers helps mitigate this problem, but requiring thin layers limits the variations of the weave, yarns, style and other fabric features that can be chosen.
In my U.S. Pat. No. 5,339,882, I disclose a window covering having a series of slats connected between two spaced apart sheets of material. The slats are substantially perpendicular to the sheets of material when the covering is in an open position. The slats are substantially parallel to the first and second sheets of material when the window covering is in a closed position. This product has many of the same limitations of the window covering disclosed by Colson and Froget. All these products use sheets of fabric and have all the problems associated with fabric sheets.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,753,338 Jelic et al. disclose a honeycomb material for window coverings in which the front face, back face and slats are interwoven simultaneously. This process uses an improved warp knitting technique in which a front mesh and a rear mesh are provided and warp threads are woven through them. The two meshes are maintained parallel to one another. At selected intervals slats are woven between the two meshes to form a honeycomb structure. Since the warp threads weave back and forth between meshes, it would seem almost impossible for the slat to have a greater density than the xe2x80x9cfaces.xe2x80x9d Secondly, since the material is created with the slats being perpendicular to the meshes, the slats must bend to affect the closure, but they have no hinge portion. This window covering has not been commercialized, but one would expect it to have the same problems as the window covering disclosed by Colson.
A problem with these fabric structures is that they must be very precisely made to look and function properly. But, textiles are inherently inconsistent and unprecise due to the nature of the weaving, printing and coating processes. Changes in temperature and humidity cause fabric to expand and contract. If a sheet of fabric is hung between a headrail and a bottomrail, a change in temperature or humidity may cause the edges of the fabric to move inward. Such movement is severely restrained near the headrail and the bottomrail, but can more easily occur around the center of the fabric. Consequently, the fabric sheet will assume an hourglass shape. For many fabrics this hourglass appearance is quite noticeable, particularly for longer shades. One way in which the art has been able to address this problem is to avoid using many fabrics for window coverings that will be subject to wide ranges of temperature and humidity. Some fabrics can be coated with starch or other chemicals to prevent shrinkage. But, that treatment increases costs.
There is a need for a window covering system which provides the light control of a venetian blind with the soft appearance of draperies and pleated shades. This window covering should be available in a wide variety of fabric, colors and styles. The window covering should not be adversely affected by changes in temperature and humidity. The window covering should be suitable for use on a roller or with lift cords to raise and lower the shade. The window covering should be able to be easily cut down from standard sizes and to be otherwise easy to fabricate. The system should be simple to install and to operate and able to be manufactured at a cost which allows the product to be sold at a competitive price. Furthermore, the window covering should not suffer from the moire effect that has plagued the window coverings which have two parallel sheets of light transmissive material. Finally, the widow covering should be easy to clean and maintain.
I provide a light controllable window covering in which there is a transparent front face formed from a series of spaced apart parallel threads. The back face is also transparent and can be made from knitted or woven material or could also be a series of spaced apart parallel thread. A series of opaque slats are attached between the two faces. The slats are preferably a knitted or woven fabric treated to have a given light impeding property. The front longitudinal edge of each slat is attached to the front face and the rear longitudinal edge of each slat is attached to the back face. The resulting structure when combined with a hardware system is a light control honeycomb window covering.
The parallel threads which form the front face are spaced apart from the back face an amount which allows light to readily pass while providing a soft fabric like appearance. Consequently, movement of the light impeding slats from a position perpendicular to the front face and back face to a position generally parallel to the front face and back face controls the amount of light which is admitted through the window covering.
The slats can be made from a single fabric which is woven or knitted or a nonwoven or a laminated combination that is flexible in at least the transverse direction. If desired the slats could also be a plastic, metal or even wood material. Longitudinal or transverse stiffeners may be provided on the slats.
The window covering made in this way can be attached to a roller or to a headrail and have lift cords routed through or adjacent the slats. A third layer of any type of material could be used with this window covering. That third layer could be adjacent the back face or the front face of the honeycomb structure. That layer could be raised and lowered independently or in conjunction with the other layers.
Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent from a description of certain present preferred embodiments shown in the drawings.